Chapter 186
Chapter 186
Before long, the one who had come to collect the child appeared.
It was an Old Man, dressed in a long black gown.
He looked like any ordinary elder, the kind, affable Old Man you could see anywhere in a park.
At first, I thought he was alive. But when I noticed he cast no shadow on the ground, I realized he wasn’t.
He glanced at the child in my arms and asked, “Young man, who is this child to you?”
I said, “He’s my friend’s child. He died before he was even born.”
The Old Man sighed. “Poor thing. Didn’t even get the chance to come into the world, and now he has to leave again.”
I couldn’t help feeling uneasy, so I asked, “Sir, where are you taking him? Will he be able to reincarnate…?”
The Old Man said, “That much I can’t tell you. Strictly speaking, none of you should even be able to see me. But don’t worry. Babies who die before birth can all reincarnate. I’ll take him where he needs to go, and he’ll be reborn soon enough.”
“This child committed sins in his past life, so this life brought him a trial. Since he has met that trial, his debt is paid. In his next life, he’ll still be able to enjoy good fortune. Take heart, young man.”
Hearing him say that, I finally felt reassured and handed the child over.
But to my surprise, the child who had been sleeping soundly suddenly woke the moment he entered the Old Man’s arms.
Seeing that I had handed him to someone else, he immediately started crying and fussing again.
“There, there, little one. Don’t cry, don’t cry. Grandpa will take you down below to play.”
The Old Man clearly wasn’t very good at soothing children. He quickly said to me, “Young man, you’d best not follow. I’ll be taking him away now.”
With that, he carried the child off.
The child cried as if his heart were being torn apart, stretching his arms toward me the whole time.
I hadn’t meant to follow, but as if possessed by some strange impulse, I just couldn’t control myself. I went after them anyway.
“Chen Mo, he told you not to follow!”
“Why won’t you listen?”
Song Xiaotian hurriedly shouted after me twice, but he couldn’t call me back.
It felt as if I were sending away my own child.
I followed for more than ten minutes, all the way to a deserted street.
At last, the Old Man couldn’t take it anymore. Holding the child, he stopped and turned to look at me.
“Young man, didn’t I tell you not to follow?”
“This little one doesn’t want to leave you. If you keep following, he won’t be able to reincarnate.”
I froze where I stood, then quickly backed up two or three steps to show that I wouldn’t follow anymore.
The Old Man sighed and disappeared from my sight with the child in his arms.
Staring at the empty street, I felt as though something had been hollowed out of me. My mind was filled with images of the time I’d spent with the child, and with Du Yuwei.
I felt like I had come to understand something.
This world was very lively.
But the souls within it were lonely.
…
When I returned to Seventh Master’s house, Seventh Master and Song Xiaotian were sitting in the courtyard waiting for me.
Seventh Master had already brewed the tea.
“The ties between people are a wondrous thing. In this vast sea of humanity, to become family, to become friends, to become lovers-each is an exceedingly rare bond of fate.”
“When fate comes, cherish it. When fate leaves, let it go. As long as you cherish the present, you won’t be left with regrets.”
Seventh Master’s words always had a way of bringing sudden clarity.
A teacher transmits the Way, imparts knowledge, and resolves confusion. From the bottom of my heart, I respected this teacher.
To distract me, Song Xiaotian changed the subject and asked Seventh Master who that Old Man had been.
“He is a Zou Wuchang,” Seventh Master said.
It was the first time either of us had heard that name. We’d heard of the Black Wuchang and White Wuchang, but never of a Zou Wuchang.
“Let me tell you a story,” Seventh Master said. “It’s about the Zou Wuchang.”
Seventh Master began slowly. “This story took place in ancient times, though there’s no way to verify which dynasty it was. It tells of an official in Jizhou whose surname was Liang, named Liang Hao.”
This Liang Hao loved playing chess. One day, he was in the middle of an especially engrossing game with a guest when a scholar came over to watch. The scholar stood there for a full hour, unwilling to leave.
Seeing how fond the scholar was of chess, Liang Hao invited him to sit down and even gave up his own seat so the scholar could play against the guest.
To his surprise, once the scholar sat down, his entire state changed. He neither ate nor drank, and kept playing with the guest from Wu Hour all the way until nightfall.
Just as the scholar was completely absorbed in the game, he suddenly shuddered, tumbled off the stool, and knelt before Liang Hao with a face full of terror.
Naturally, Liang Hao was baffled. He asked the scholar what he meant by this and why he was so frightened.
Weeping, the scholar told Liang Hao to go warn the guard at the jail not to put an iron chain around his neck.
Liang Hao was even more confused. He said the scholar had been here playing chess for several hours. Where had anyone come from to put a chain around his neck?
But the scholar begged bitterly and even kowtowed to Liang Hao. Left with no choice, Liang Hao went to the guard’s home to ask him about it.
Who would have thought that after Liang Hao arrived at the guard’s house, he would find the guard lying on the bed, no longer breathing? The man was dead.
Since he was dead, funeral arrangements had to be made. But the guard had no family, and after his death, there was no one to collect his body. Liang Hao was a kindhearted man, so he worked with the neighbors to arrange the guard’s funeral.
Just as they were about to carry the guard’s coffin away for burial, a wandering Daoist passed by. The Daoist said the person inside the coffin was still alive, but had taken up an official post in the underworld. He was a Living Underworld Constable, also known as Zou Wuchang. At that very moment, he was handling a case in the underworld, and once the case was finished, he would come back to life.
Liang Hao was a scholar. How could he believe such superstitious nonsense from a Daoist?
Seeing that Liang Hao did not believe him, and unable to bear watching a living man be buried alive, the Daoist said the guard would wake up in two days. He told Liang Hao to keep the coffin at home for those two days first. If the guard still had not woken after that, then they could carry him off and bury him.
Although Liang Hao did not believe in such superstitious matters, when he saw that the Daoist was willing to stake a life on it, he hesitated. In the end, he ordered the men to carry the coffin back.
Who would have thought that two days later, the guard truly fulfilled the Daoist’s words and suddenly came back to life inside the coffin?
The guard had survived, but the scholar from before was dead.
“Clearly, the scholar’s allotted lifespan had come to an end. That guard was Zou Wuchang, helping the underworld seize souls. He took away the scholar’s Earth Soul. Once the guard returned to the living world, the scholar naturally went to the underworld.”
After listening to Seventh Master’s account, Song Xiaotian and I cried out in amazement.
In other words, that old man just now was a Living Underworld Constable!
A living person could actually seize souls and perform the duties of an underworld constable!
“From ancient times to the present, Zou Wuchang has always existed as a vocation, especially in rural areas.”
Seventh Master said, “Some people are perfectly fine one moment, then inexplicably fall into a deep sleep the next. Others can sleep for a day or two at a time, or even several days. In truth, they’ve gone to help the underworld seize souls.”
“Some people have strong yang energy, such as soldiers, who carry an aura of killing and severity. Underworld constables are also Ghost, so they fear this kind of utmost rigid yang energy.”
“But a Living Underworld Constable is a living person and does not fear yang energy. That is why their existence serves to assist underworld constables in seizing souls.”
“It’s just that these Living Underworld Constables cannot casually reveal matters of the underworld. Once they do, at best, they’ll be slapped across the mouth. At worst, they can have years stripped from their lifespan.”